Desolo
by Paige Elric
Summary: When Erin takes on a job working for Professor Oak, she faces some unexpected obstacles, but they pale in comparison to what comes next! Unimaginable challenges await her, and not everything is as it first appears...
1. Of the Shadows

**Slam!**

The brick wall collapsed as a small body was effortlessly flung against it.

"**I am disappointed in you.**" A deep, unholy voice echoed through the shadowy corridor. "**For some reason**," it paused, "**I imagined that you would fare better than the **_**others**_**.**"

The midnight air seemed to turn stale, as an unnaturally dark shadow approached its defeated opponent. There was no sound of footsteps through the deathly silence. Its foe lay sprawled in the crimson soil, unmoving.

"**I even led myself to believe that your rebellious nature would pose somewhat of a challenge**" the shade growled. Slowly, a dark, ghostly hand reached down and lifted its lifeless victim's head out of the dirt. The little creature let out a weak cough. "**But that shalt not hamper the proceedings…**" It tilted its head, revealing a section of pure white fangs that gleamed in the dim moonlight.  
"**Now shant it?**"

The shadow's prey felt a sudden burst of strength. "No." It whispered.

"**Hmm?**" The dark being showed a hint of interest.

"As long as I live," Its voice grew stronger with each word, "I'll never let you do it!"

"_**Charming,**_" The shade mocked, "**What would the other inferiors do without a hero like you?**"

After a horrible moment of silence, a small red and white globe appeared, levitating next to them. "**I assume we shall find out soon enough.**"

It's pink captive let out a horrified gasp, and the sphere opened, emitting a deathly red light.

**"NO!"**

A whirlwind of pink light infused with the red, and when it disappeared, so did they.

The orb sat alone in a patch of scarlet grass. The moonlight caused its pure white top to sparkle with a heavenly pink while the scream echoed through the night; "NO!"


	2. The First of Many

"Stand by," Professor Oak cautioned as a blinding white beam engulfed the pokéball. The sphere's vibrant red color melted to an electrified white and the mass began to shrink until it was gone entirely. As quickly as it had disappeared, a new pokéball appeared in its place. Oak picked up the new one and summoned a creature from within it. In a flash of red light, a small green creature materialized at his feet. The Pokémon was a bit chubby and weighed down by a plant that seemed to be attached to its back. "I have Bulbasaur here, Sam" The old man clarified to his monitor.

"Thanks, Professor" A young boy smiled from the computer screen. "Pidgey's here, too" He held up a bird like creature, it tweeted happily.

Oak smiled, "Good luck in your m-"

**DING DONG!**

Oak's doorbell interrupted him midsentence.

"Oh, who could that be" He mumbled to himself. "Well good luck in your match, Sam" He said to the boy. Sam nodded and the screen flickered to black.

**DING DONG!**

The doorbell repeated itself as Oak struggled to stand up on his shaky old legs, clutching the desk for support.

**DING DONG! DING DONG! DING DONG!**

Oak finally reached his front door, his ears ringing. He opened the door, and on his front step stood a young girl.

**"HI PROFESSOR!"**

The old man blinked, "Oh, Erin," He glanced at his watch, "You're early..." He looked at her questioningly.

Erin had short, scruffy red hair which was partially covered by an old baseball cap. She wore a T-shirt that said "Take a Chansey!" along with a pair of battered jeans and sneakers.

"I just couldn't wait to come to my first day of work, Sir" the thought seemed to make her more excited.

Oak raised his eyebrow, "Alright," he shrugged, "I guess I'll show you around" He turned and motioned for her to follow.

Eyes wide, Erin was given a tour of the professor's lab. They passed countless windows and enclosures; one window looked out onto a prairie where a herd of Tauros were running freely. Oak explained that they belonged to a trainer named Ash Ketchum, who had started his journey at that very lab, and went on to become a Pokémon Champion. They also passed an aquarium that glimmered with countess water pokémon; lumineon glided gracefully around magikarp who were flailing in the open water.

Finally, they came to a door at the end of the hallway, "This is the pokéball storage room," Oak explained, he opened the door, revealing a room the size of ten libraries. In front of them was a plain metal bookshelf filled with pokéballs, next to it was an identical one, and next to that was another; the bookshelves seemed to continue on like this forever. He reached into his pocket and removed the pokéball that contained Sam's Bulbasaur, "Your first job," The dim light made his smile look almost sinister, "Will be to file this one." He held up the pokéball, and Erin took it hesitantly. "Good luck," Oak added, as he closed the door, leaving Erin alone in the endless pokéball chamber.

She squinted at the first shelf, she could barely make out the symbols "A1" which were printed on its side. "At least they're marked", she said optimistically, and started walking.


	3. The Warehouse

"X10", Erin groaned. Her spunky attitude had completely disappeared, leaving her somewhat depressed as she trudged through the gray labyrinth. She was beginning to lose any hope of getting to Sam's section. Oak had mentioned Sam during her tour; his full name was, of course, Sam _Zimmerman_, which was filed under Z.

"Y5", she read aloud. Along the way, she had let Sam's Bulbasaur out of its pokéball, hoping that it would help her in some way, but instead, it stuck its nose in the air and walked next to her while still keeping its distance.

"Z1, we're close!", her voice was filled with relief. "Return, Bulbasaur" she commanded, holding up its pokéball. A red laser shot out at the pokémon, but Bulbasaur dodged it, running ahead of her. "Oh, **C'MON**!" Erin complained, pursuing the creature. Bulbasaur leaped on top of the shelf labeled "Z5". "Get down here!" she tried to sound intimidating, but she was out of breath, so it sounded more like an exhausted whine. Bulbasaur yawned lazily, curling up for a nap above her. Erin, now enraged, scrambled up the shelf after it.

For a second time, she held up the pokéball, "Return!" this time, Bulbasaur was too sleepy to dodge, and was hit with the beam. The pokémon's silhouette turned bright red, and in an instant, was pulled into the sphere.

"Yes!" Erin held up her arms in triumph. But they instantly shot back down when she realized that the shelf had wobbled. But it was too late; the shelf continued to tremble until it finally crashed to the ground, Erin and all. Pokéballs rolled in all directions, as the Red Head struggled to grab them before they got away.

Erin backed up, to look for any she may have missed, when she felt her sneaker tap against something behind her. She quickly turned around to find another shelf descending towards her! She immediately jumped away, letting the shelf hit the ground with a loud **THUD!**

Erin found herself also on the floor, her arm ached after landing on it, and she cringed as she struggled to sit up. Suddenly something else caught her attention; her eyes shifted to see a blue pokéball wobbling next to her. Erin gingerly picked it up to look at it. It wasn't a dive ball, because those have white and dark blue splotches covering them. This pokéball was pure blue on its top half and the other half was white.

Erin looked at the fallen shelf that the strange pokéball had come from. On its side, instead of a letter and number, there was one word; _Desolo._ She suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. _What...does that mean?_ She thought.

As she looked quizzically at the strange word, Erin had a strange feeling she was being watched! She spun around to find Professor Oak leaning against the gray wall, his arms crossed.

"What happened _here_?" he sounded disappointed, "I gave you ONE little job, and you screw It up! Do you realize what you could have done?" He walked over to her and grabbed one of the regular pokéballs off the ground, "if any of these pokéballs were damaged, the pokémon inside would have DIED!" Erin stared up at the old man, ashamed and scared. A smile crept onto the professor's face, "I guess it's a good thing those heavy-duty pokéballs were invented a few years ago." He laughed, patting Erin on the back. For a long moment Erin gaped at the old man's cruel joke.

When she finally regained her composure, Erin asked Oak about the strange Desolo ball. His expression became serious and he took the pokéball from her, holding it up to the light from a far off window. The sphere gleamed with a beautiful green tint she hadn't noticed before. "This pokéball," he said seriously, "is the last of its kind. You see, it all started with a pokéball that we had here quite a few years ago. We had dubbed it the GS ball and we tried to find out how to open it and see what was inside.

"We didn't have any luck, and we even sent it to a pokéball expert, but no information was ever found out about it. One day, someone discovered another pokéball, this one was completely different colored, and when we brought it to the lab to be examined. That night, we received a phone call from Kurt, the pokéball expert. He told us that the GS ball had disappeared…" Oak paused and glanced down at Erin, whose mouth was hanging open as she listened. "Why am I wasting my time telling you all this? You're just a child" His eyebrows narrowed and he put the mysterious blue ball in his pocket.

Erin was about to protest when the professor walked over to the wall he had been standing by before. He knocked his fist against it three times as if he were using Morse code. They both stood quietly for a few seconds until the wall opened, creating a narrow doorway.

"Well, c'mon" Oak called, "I'm not gettin' any younger"

Erin scurried over and stepped into the dark space. She was claustrophobic, and the tiny space made her nervous.

"Go to seven" Oak instructed, "Ari will give you your next job while I clean up here."

Before Erin could respond, the old man knocked on the wall three more times, and the gray walls closed, trapping Erin in absolute darkness.


	4. Death by Claustrophobia

I don't think my heart had ever beaten this fast before! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, the only thing I could think about was Oak's face right before the wall had closed on me! He looked severely annoyed, but at the same time…pained?

Then it hit me, he must have _known _how much I hated dark confined spaces! He was going to leave me here until I suffocated!

I had often heard rumors that Professor Oak was getting old, and he wasn't as sharp as he used to be but…

_Has he finally snapped?_

_Does he kill every employee that messes up?_

_Is that why he was hiring?_

_I don't wanna die!_

My mind raced, desperate to find an answer, until I found myself pounding on the blocked door. Suddenly, I noticed a faint light out of the corner of my eye. I slowly turned to see a wall of buttons. Each one gleamed with a hopeful blue light, but it only made me angry!

Beneath a row that stated 1 through 7 for the different floors, there was a section of buttons that displayed every letter of the alphabet.

I couldn't believe my eyes, the Professor had installed a system to take him to any section of the warehouse he desired, and he had made me walk the entire thing!

I punched 7, and took a deep breath to calm myself down. As I stood in the silent elevator, I felt all of my emotions catch up to me, and I wanted to cry.

"This is my first day," I reminded myself, "This 'Ari' guy will tell Oak if he finds me crying, and I'll probably be fired!" I sucked up my emotions and started to imagine what Ari looks like to keep my mind off of everything else. I pictured someone, about the age of 40, with short, grey-black hair. He was wearing a white lab coat, like Oak, and on his feet, he was wearing pink high heels. I chuckled to myself, feeling better.

The elevator shuddered to a stop, and I glanced around the room, and that's when saw Ari.


	5. Ari

I don't remember glancing around the grey room. I didn't look at anything, because all I could see was _him_.

Ari _was_ wearing a white lab coat, but that's all I got right. His sparkling light chestnut hair fell around his face as he concentrated on a computer screen. When he turned to see who had come in, his brilliant forest-green eyes look into my dull brown ones and he smiled. For the first time in my life, I wished I had brushed my hair that morning.

"Hey," he spoke, "I'm Ari."

I suppose he wanted me to respond with my name, but I just stared at him as if I were paralyzed.

After a long, awkward moment, I willed myself to croak "Hiii."

Ari was silent for a moment, then he smiled and rolled his eyes as if he just realized something, "Oak got you with the warehouse thing too, huh?" I didn't answer. "I guess I'll show you your job," Still smiling warmly, he motioned me over to another computer. This one had some sort of contraption on its side that hung above a small platform. Ari took his cell phone out of his pocket and gracefully pressed a few of the buttons before putting it next to his ear.

"Hey, Zack," he said casually, "can you now?" There was a pause as he listened to Zack's response, "Yeah, I gotta show the new girl-" He stopped suddenly, "Well, yeah..." Ari's face turned scarlet.

_Even with a red face, he's handsome._

All of a sudden, his eyes widened as he listened, then his gaze turned serious, "C'mon, man! I'll tell you later, just...get to one!" he flipped his phone closed and sighed.

A moment later, the computer screen flickered to life. An older teenage boy looked out at us. He had spiky, jet black hair and blue eyes. As soon as he spotted me, he cracked a smile.

"You're right," he said to Ari, "She _is_-"

"So who do you want me to send, Zack?" Ari growled, cutting him off.

"Victreebel, _please_," Zack remarked sarcastically.

"Sure thing, man," Ari looked irritated.

He stood up from his chair and walked over to the lab's back door. There was a flight of stairs that lead down to the pokémon meadow. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he shouted, "Victreebel!"

After a moment, he was answered by a high pitched screech in the distance, and before I could process what was happening, a huge yellow monster bolted up the stairs and tackled Ari full force, slamming him against the hard tile! My heart seemed to freeze as I pictured myself at Ari's funeral, weeping because I had lost my first love.


End file.
